Tabitha Hu
Introductions Tabitha Hu is destined to be the next villainous "Auntie Tiger", a character featuring in the Taiwanese fairytale/folkstory of the same name. An orphan from a young age due to her mother following her destiny that resulted in her death, Tabitha was raised primarily by distant family members and boarding house/orphanage caretakers. With what inheritance she has left from her mother, she's set out to change her fortune. Defensive and mistrustful, Tabitha tends to keep her emotions firmly in check, rarely making efforts to make friends with people. This stems from her deep insecurity that someone will try to hurt her as her destiny dictates, though there seems to be a glimmer of vulnerability underneath her carefully structured armour. She has the ability to turn into a great South China Tiger when she pleases, and will usually spend an equal amount of time in both forms. A firm rebel, Tabitha is desperate to find a way out of her destiny and stay human, without the cost of the lives of two children and her ultimately, her own. Character Personality First and foremost, Tabitha seems exceptionally reserved, if not downright rude. Unwilling to let people get close, she generally seems cold and imperious. Unafraid to tell people precisely what she thinks of them, Tabitha doesn't make friends easily – and she's (apparently) happy to keep it that way. She makes a point of being brutally honest as well, and she'll have no problems telling you that yes, you do look fat in that dress thanks for asking. She's confident and often very stubborn. Favouring logic and science, she doesn't care much for the frivolous. However, despite all the lashing out on the surface there's a reward for those who are willing and dedicated enough to mine through her armour. In the face of all her haughty confidence Tabitha is surprisingly agreeable to those she's close to, often becoming somewhat clingy. She has a dry sense of humour and loves to gossip with a close friend during a sleepover; a luxury she never really had in the boarding house. You can tell when she's close to someone when she's in tiger form: she'll rub her head and sides along the person enthusiastically, often purring or chirping. Beware of tiger hair – it gets everywhere. Looks/Presentation Tabitha stands at above average height for a woman from China, coming in at 5ft 6" and 118lbs. Graceful and purposeful, she holds herself with a practiced sort of discipline, possibly to give the illusion of someone who had a greater purpose in life. She has bright orange coloured eyes and a long, sleek curtain of jet black hair that's long enough to sit on (she takes great pride in her hair and likes to brush it often, much like a cat would like to groom its fur). Favoring structured, angular, sleek clothing with modern Chinese fashion influences, she's always seen sporting her signature colours; red, orange, gold and green. Dresses are her staple; whether it be sleek evening gowns or tunic dresses with leggings. She will unabashedly tell you that one of her favourite items of clothing is her only pair of black and red louboutins that she won in a game of checkers. She can also be seen wearing her black martial arts uniform when training – her hair will always be tied up in a messy half attempt at a bun. The only clothing item she has left of her mother's is an orange-green jade pendant on a black string, featuring a prowling tiger carved into the front. She will always wear this either on top of or under her clothing. Hobbies and Interests Tabitha had a lot of time to spare as a child, often being left alone while her older relatives worked or being left to her own devices in the boarding house once her relatives where no longer keen to look after her. Due to this she spent a lot of time focusing on her favourite past time – Fu Jow Pai, or "Tiger Claw" style of Kung Fu (very fitting). She stumbled upon a run down temple down a back alley from where she would attend school and found out that they offered cheap classes in exchange for work. Happily taking up the distraction to aid her loneliness, Tabitha threw herself into her master's teachings and would offer an hour of cleaning and mopping for an hour of training. Quickly climbing up the ranks, she's just achieved her black belt – something she's very proud of. As a result of this passion she's taken on a project in Science and Sorcery to build herself various suits of training armour that will help maximise strength, padding and muscle torsion. In her final year this will upgrade to full power armour, something she hopes will be implemented in the future to help emergency service workers. Outwith the sparring mats, Tabitha is a keen collector of makeup items and has quite the talent for makeup artistry - she'll argue that she learned this skill as a by product of having too much time on her hands. Due to this she's managed to supplement her income via her Mythstagram posts, where her photos mostly consist of beautiful makeup tutorials, makeup swatches, beach photos and the occasional "Tiger Tea" endorsement photo. Tabitha is at once both a woman who can and will break your sternum with a one inch punch and a woman who can contour better than Kim Kardashian. She's also a skilled boardgames player – particularly chess, checkers, dominoes and monopoly; anything that requires strategy and cunning. She would often ask the caretakers at the boarding house to play with her, and on the off chance that one of them would actually agree she enjoyed herself immensely. She also enjoys number puzzles, and is often known to play Yahtzee by herself or fill out pages upon pages of sodoku books in her free periods. Fairytale Auntie Tiger is a tale which can only end in sadness, and not just for Tabitha. Destined to become a tiger permanently once she leaves Ever After High, the only way she can become human once more is to devour children. Following this however she is fated to fall prey to her own desperate circumstances and end up boiling in a pot of hot oil at the wit of a young girl, but not at the expense of another child's life. Desperate to find a way out, currently Tabitha has two choices; either follow her path and die for the trouble, or stay a tiger until the end of her days. She's a rebel for this very reason. She doesn't want to end up like her mother, and so that her children don't have to suffer the same consequences. Secretly in her downtime she's often in the science lab dabbling in ways she can control her imminent permanent transformation; the project involves electric currents, Magi-Chemical compounds and a black leather collar, she's reluctant to go into any real details however she hopes to have the collar completed by graduation. Friends/Relationships Magnolia Hua Thrown together at the start of the school year because "Hey they're both Chinese they've gotta have something in common right?!", Magnolia (or "Maggie") and Tabitha have nothing in common except one shared language (English) and a dislike for military communism. However, after Maggie told her parents about Tabitha, they've insisted she stay with them outside of term time. The two girls are exceptionally different, though they remain civil most of the time. However it's no secret that Maggie openly resents Tabitha's promise to her father that she'll wake the smaller girl up each morning at 6am to spar and train in martial arts - an activity that Maggie finds completely useless. Tabitha has suspicions about Maggie's dragonsport mount, Di Di, however, and is on a mission to prove her suspicions correct. Noël Winter After a period of intense, good natured flirting, Noël and Tabitha are official not-so-secret girlfriends. Tabitha won't admit it to anyone, but she's smitten as a kitten. The two met in Science and Sorcery class and developed a friendship over their science projects (and later on, hacking the Chinese government civil record database) and they've been inseparable since. Often seen holding hands in the hall or cuddling up next to each other during free periods, they enjoy museum dates, sleepovers with terrible old "Wire-Fu" movies and reading the Smithsonian and National Geographic magazine while leaning on each other in class breaks. Noël is the only person Tabi will allow to touch her, and freely transforms into a tiger around her to run her head along her hips and lick her cheek. Noël is also the only person to have ever touched the infamous tail without dire consequences. Kai Ee One of the "Sorcery and Science trio" (comprised of Tabi, Noël and Kai himself), Kai and Tabitha get on remarkably well, despite the two being usually pretty frosty individuals. Brought together by a respect of science and logic, it's been known that Kai and Tabitha often have lengthy exchanges with each other in Mandarin; what they're saying however remains unknown (it's suspected that they have both intense discussions about mechanics and bitching sessions. Nobody knows which is which. Either way Tabitha enjoys the opportunity to use her native language). Albeart Fitzroy The first person to show Tabitha around after she joined EAH, Fitz was assigned to her as her "orientation buddy". He greeted her in bear form with a party hat and a specially made merignue that spelled "Welcome!", and immediately attempted to enthusiastically befriend her. Hesitant at first, and slightly surprised at his behaiour, they two have eventually bonded over their shared ability to shapeshift into animals. Fitz still loves grabbing her tiger cheeks and squashing them in between his paws while cooing "So soft!" at her - she no longer swats at him when he does it, and he's taken that as a positive sign. Pets/Plants Though Tabitha doesn't have a pet ("It wouldn't be right to keep an animal. I have far too much of my time already dedicated to other commitments."), she's is a big fan of plants - her side of the room she and Magnolia share is militaristically neat, and in between her neatly stacked books and lab tools she's taken to decorating with many different kinds of geometric terrariums. She finds them infinitely calming and likes the effect of the ones hanging by her window. She currently has five miniature geometric terrariums hanging at the window and four larger ones on her desk and shelves. She's named each and every one of them after a number in the Mandarin numerical system (numbers 1 - 9). Noël has teased her good naturedly about her lack of inventive naming more than once, but Tabitha doesn't mind. Powers and Abilities Able to transform into a tiger and a human as well as various stages in between, Tabitha has mostly hidden her secret from those around her as she grew up. While a few selected relatives knew of her powers and story, they were quick to tell her to cease her transformations. Ever since then she'd be sure and transform only when by herself – however now she's in a safe environment she can be seen as a tiger quite often. Large enough to ride, It's been said her enchanted tiger form has exceptionally soft fur, and that her roar can be heard for miles; she can and will act like an asshole cat from time to time. Do NOT touch her tail without her knowing first - she'll strike out before asking questions. Face-claim The Chinese actress Du Juan - with angular features, sleek dark hair and elegant pouted lips, makes the perfect Tabitha. Trivia * Tabitha hates seafood – this makes her possibly one of the only big cats that doesn't like fish. * She will often burn sage as a personal cleansing ritual – her martial arts master often burned sage for luck and cleanliness, so she likes to keep the tradition going. * Tabitha is an excellent swimmer; like most tigers, she enjoys the swimming itself, however she greatly dislikes having to wash and groom herself afterwards. * Able to shift parts of herself into their tiger equivalent individually, when she's being lazy or often when angry she'll sprout claws or a tail etc. * A practitioner of yoga, Tabitha uses the art as a way of stretching and relaxing post spar. She's very flexible, and is particularly fond of her excellent Scorpion pose. * Tabitha is a big sucker for Bruce Lee movies - Enter the Dragon is her favourite. * Tabitha makes a point to attend every one of Noël's ice hockey games, even practice sessions as well as competitive Away matches. She's very supportive of her girlfriend's hobbies and likes to be there for support in the stands. * Her favourite snacks are tiger slices. She knows it's cliche, but she can't resist the orange and chocolate flavours. * Her birthday is August 1st, though she's never had a birthday party. * She's Mythstagram famous, though she'll vehemently deny it if asked about it. * Her ringtone is "Eye of the Tiger". She's not ashamed. However, she has a different personalized ringtone for Noël. * She has her own custom B.E.E.S model that Noël made for her - it features little tiger ears and a tigerskin decal paintjob as well as a little secret compartment that they two use to trade notes and such. Tabitha blushed like a nerd when her girlfriend gave it to her. * Occasionally Noël craft targets made of ice specially so Tabitha can practice her kicks and punches. Category:Characters Category:Females Category:Shapeshifters Category:Animal parent Category:Garbagebabypossum oc Category:Chinese